Longtime resident Regan Wood announces bid for Summit County Coroner

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Longtime Summit County resident Regan Wood last week officially announced her intent to run for Summit County Coroner on the Republican ticket.

Wood has spent the majority of her career working directly with residents and visitors in Summit County, providing services and compassion to those in need. She began her journey in 1993 as a volunteer with the Advocates for Victims of Assault Inc., later working her way up to executive director.

When Wood left Advocates in 2005, she was approached by then-coroner Joanne Richardson to become a deputy coroner. Wood said she thinks Richardson noticed and admired the ease and confidence she displayed on death scenes as an advocate and encouraged her to pursue a position with her office.

After much soul-searching and research, Wood decided to accept Richardson’s offer. Following a year of tutelage under Richardson and completing medico-legal death investigation training through the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Wood became deputized as a death investigator in Summit County.

Since that time, Wood said she has made it a priority to educate herself about the numerous situations and scenes coroners can expect. In 2010, she became a certified EMT-Basic through Colorado Mountain College in Breckenridge.

Wood also engages in ongoing education courses throughout the state and currently interns two days per week at the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner, as a death investigator, while maintaining her position as chief deputy coroner in Summit County.

“The sheer volume and exposure to the myriad of death scenes is giving me the best hands-on experience I could hope for,” Wood said. “The experience leads me to feel confident in my decision to run for to the Summit County Coroner.”

Wood recently received death investigator certification from the Colorado Coroner’s Association and launched this year a citizen’s coroner academy. The academy attracted 18 participants for what Wood initially thought would be a 15-person class.

“I am amazed by the high caliber and quality of people,” Wood said. “One of the participants commented about her excitement when she saw the announcement and felt welcomed by there being so many other people who had a similar interest in death investigations.”

When not performing her deputy coroner duties, Wood can often be found hiking the trails throughout the county with her dog, Buddy, or skiing local mountains with her 12-year-old daughter, Kaci.